Pre-deposit waiver under Customs law must be decided before dismissal; appeal restored and remanded for merits.

Section 129 of the Customs Act, 1962 gives the appellate authority discretion to waive pre-deposit where undue hardship is shown. If a waiver request is made, that request must be decided before dismissing an appeal for non-deposit. Here, the authority failed to rule on the waiver application and dismissed the appeal only for want of deposit. As the deposit was subsequently made, the dismissal was set aside and the matter was remanded for fresh disposal on merits after notice to the appellant.

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Issues: Whether the appeal could be dismissed for non-deposit of the penalty without first deciding the prayer for dispensing with pre-deposit, and whether the matter required remand for fresh disposal on merits.

Analysis: The pre-deposit requirement under Section 129 of the Customs Act, 1962 included a discretion in the appellate authority to dispense with deposit where undue hardship was shown. A request for waiver had been made, but the appellate authority did not decide that request and instead dismissed the appeal for want of deposit. Since the deposit had subsequently been made, the proper course was to restore the matter for consideration on merits after notice to the appellant.

Conclusion: The dismissal order was set aside and the matter was remanded to the appellate authority for fresh disposal on merits.

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